If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

If I can get IMGUR to stop being a bum I'll have an INTRO GIF up of the Un-Boxing... I Can't seem to get it to work (Yes, it's under 10MB)
Baby's first bath in the sink. Sanded with 600 wet paper and Rubbed with 0000 Steel wool. Trimmed with a Dremel and fine details sanded and filed afterwards.
It really does turn into a brushed aluminum!
This will be a ROTJ paint up... I'll be installing Salamanderking's RF kit into this bucket as well...

You'll get a Funny story with the answer- I brought the helmet in the shower with me to give it a good scrub (And to show my girl friend how much I love the helmet) I used Regular Dial hand soap with a nylon bristle brush. I Didn't even need to wash it though: if you're going to sand and polish- don't waste your time scrubbing. I ended up using the sand paper first and then the 0000 steel wool. I did two rounds of wool polishing under running water in the sink. Dude- seriously- I would use the Sweet steel as the metal, Show-through damage of the Aluminum casting powder. It's legit.
I'd hate to say this because of risk of the price rising- But $175 for ASOK's "Budget" helmet is a steal. I'm gretful to have one.
I'm going to mask out the dent and other really metal looking damage on just the polished surface. And the surface really matches the Testors "aluminum" enamel. That means matching the color of that "Alum CC" and last minute damage painting will be less work. In fact- I'm going to do a lot of the silver damage last instead of masking most of it. Although- I've learned doing a practice paint job that the rear panel and a lot of the weathered damage needs Grey misting. I know I'm getting verbose-
Not much, if any, paint chipped weathering exposes shiny metal.
When I'm back from snow boarding tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday ill post more pix of progress! Any questions- please don't be shy to ask.

Geeza said:

Hey about to start my own Asok cc paint up next week. Can I ask what kind of soap out used? Also where did you use the sandpaper? Entire lid before using the wool?

- - - Updated - - -

You'll get a Funny story with the answer- I brought the helmet in the shower with me to give it a good scrub (And to show my girl friend how much I love the helmet) I used Regular Dial hand soap with a nylon bristle brush. I Didn't even need to wash it though: if you're going to sand and polish- don't waste your time scrubbing. I ended up using the sand paper first and then the 0000 steel wool. I did two rounds of wool polishing under running water in the sink. Dude- seriously- I would use the Sweet steel as the metal, Show-through damage of the Aluminum casting powder. It's legit.
I'd hate to say this because of risk of the price rising- But $175 for ASOK's "Budget" helmet is a steal. I'm grateful to have one.
I'm going to mask out the dent and other really metal looking damage on just the polished surface. And the surface really matches the Testors "aluminum" enamel. That means matching the color of that "Alum CC" and last minute damage painting will be less work. In fact- I'm going to do a lot of the silver damage last instead of masking most of it. Although- I've learned doing a practice paint job that the rear panel and a lot of the weathered damage needs Grey misting. I know I'm getting verbose-
Not much, if any, paint chipped weathering exposes shiny metal.
When I'm back from snow boarding tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday ill post more pix of progress! Any questions- please don't be shy to ask.

Geeza said:

Hey about to start my own Asok cc paint up next week. Can I ask what kind of soap out used? Also where did you use the sandpaper? Entire lid before using the wool?

Hey guys I'm new here, but I've been lurking and looking for a while. Just wondering how you go about getting that kit or another like it? Also I've noticed people commision paint jobs, etc. Is there someone here who will do the whole deal or is it better to do one yourself. I kinda wanted to do a Prototype Armor helmet so does anyone make one without the dent or a protoype kit. Please excuse me if this is not the place for this type of question and point me in the right direction, Thanks.

Natas, typically searching for vendors would be better then asking in a WIP thread....But its not very difficult to fill the dent. BUT there may be a Super Trooper helmet in the works from what Ive heard by fettpride. A clean version of the FPH2. Search his threads and you'll see his work. Start reading up in the how much you will spend thread etc....introduce yourself too! Welcome

Natas, typically searching for vendors would be better then asking in a WIP thread....But its not very difficult to fill the dent. BUT there may be a Super Trooper helmet in the works from what Ive heard by fettpride. A clean version of the FPH2. Search his threads and you'll see his work. Start reading up in the how much you will spend thread etc....introduce yourself too! Welcome

I will try the search and check out his work, what is FPH2 sorry for the noob stuff.

You'll get a Funny story with the answer- I brought the helmet in the shower with me to give it a good scrub (And to show my girl friend how much I love the helmet) I used Regular Dial hand soap with a nylon bristle brush. I Didn't even need to wash it though: if you're going to sand and polish- don't waste your time scrubbing. I ended up using the sand paper first and then the 0000 steel wool. I did two rounds of wool polishing under running water in the sink. Dude- seriously- I would use the Sweet steel as the metal, Show-through damage of the Aluminum casting powder. It's legit.
I'd hate to say this because of risk of the price rising- But $175 for ASOK's "Budget" helmet is a steal. I'm gretful to have one.
I'm going to mask out the dent and other really metal looking damage on just the polished surface. And the surface really matches the Testors "aluminum" enamel. That means matching the color of that "Alum CC" and last minute damage painting will be less work. In fact- I'm going to do a lot of the silver damage last instead of masking most of it. Although- I've learned doing a practice paint job that the rear panel and a lot of the weathered damage needs Grey misting. I know I'm getting verbose-
Not much, if any, paint chipped weathering exposes shiny metal.
When I'm back from snow boarding tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday ill post more pix of progress! Any questions- please don't be shy to ask.

- - - Updated - - -

You'll get a Funny story with the answer- I brought the helmet in the shower with me to give it a good scrub (And to show my girl friend how much I love the helmet) I used Regular Dial hand soap with a nylon bristle brush. I Didn't even need to wash it though: if you're going to sand and polish- don't waste your time scrubbing. I ended up using the sand paper first and then the 0000 steel wool. I did two rounds of wool polishing under running water in the sink. Dude- seriously- I would use the Sweet steel as the metal, Show-through damage of the Aluminum casting powder. It's legit.
I'd hate to say this because of risk of the price rising- But $175 for ASOK's "Budget" helmet is a steal. I'm gretful to have one.
I'm going to mask out the dent and other really metal looking damage on just the polished surface. And the surface really matches the Testors "aluminum" enamel. That means matching the color of that "Alum CC" and last minute damage painting will be less work. In fact- I'm going to do a lot of the silver damage last instead of masking most of it. Although- I've learned doing a practice paint job that the rear panel and a lot of the weathered damage needs Grey misting. I know I'm getting verbose-
Not much, if any, paint chipped weathering exposes shiny metal.
When I'm back from snow boarding tomorrow on Super Bowl Sunday ill post more pix of progress! Any questions- please don't be shy to ask.

Ha ha, that did make me giggle. Thanks for your reply and thanks for the offer of more help.
Just to clarify you are going to use the Alu raw color as the silver? You won't paint that layer?

my helmet should be here this week and can't wait to get started.

Although having problems finding humbrols here in japan as customs have stopped the importation of paint!!!
So I'm buying up as much as I can here.

I assure you- You don't need Humbrol. Whatever Enamel you can get to "match" the color your eye agrees on is sufficient. Lighting will change a color. The perfect color can look like Poodoo in the wrong camera flash. Don't break your neck trying to buy up Humbrol. The Testors Aluminum matches the base CC color almost exactly. Ill have more progress pix up when I get my visor and aluminum servo shaft extension [Should have been today but we had afoot of snow]

To h3|| with the postman... I'm starting the painting.
First the couple of Gouges to the rear, and a mist of Some Testors Aluminum misting...
Same side, some light grey misting
And after the darker grey mistingSo- I decided to eye ball it according to some stencils...
For the final Dark Green I'm going to mask out this grey mess with some fluid... the best I can... the **** masking fluid I'm using isn't exactly like paint- It doesn't stick too well to the surface of the paint.

I dropped it!
Hah! A piece of the Aluminum flew off-
I learned two things: Don't drink more than 4 white Russians and handle the bucket.
And **** that Aluminum cast layer is thick! I was worried I'd buff through to the resin... I could have taken a Dremel to the thing and still had to dig to the resin.
So- A Little super glue and it resembles authentic damage... (Even if I had the visor in it would have def lost some material)
I'm not a fan of how blue the light gray looks- But, It'll pass Muster. I was dabbing the green on in the grey areas when I decided to try a different technique- SPLATTERING the green onto the grey shaded ares. It saved me some time, and didn't come out too bad.
The end wash weathering and various dribs and drabs will blend all of this together- for the most part I'm done with this area- I masked out the upper mandibles for the Deep Blue-Green.

I've decided I may re do the back panel after finishing the dome/lower mandibles and the crimson visor-band... The "Light grey" is too blue for my taste... Or I'll see if I can Salvage it by just spraying the specific faded areas.

Just received my MOW Gaunts- My God^2. So Much more Work added to the table and they're great!
I Love them. They're beautiful. One flaw- My Drumming and my Jiu Jitsu have created a set of Popeye Forearms. The Gaunts are a little snug in them. I'll have to reshape them with a heat gun or hot before I start doing the other stuff (Fiber glass, Hinge, Maybe a magnet Closure...) I'll elaborate more when I do my armor WiP after receiving my Fett Pride set.

To the ASOK Cold Cast bucket. The Back was no good for me- I took some wool and thinner to it, re painted it and skipping the details, here is the back without green
I masked the Crimson trim out and decided it would be appropriate to take a picture of what the Swedish Chef mixed with Boba Fett Would look like.
This is the main color scheme less detail weathering...
And the back of the helmet redone

Got some good info on them. Skip the fiberglass and look into a smooth on resin kit (starter kit) and use with glass matt. Has to do with FG. Resin won't bond. It'll stick, but it will disbond easily. And hot water is all you need to shape them.

I really appreciate the Suggestion! And I definately must have used the wrong terminology... But, I'm confused. Resin will Dis-bond easy- But a Starter Resin Kit Will work. That seems- Conflicting. I did see a few tutorials on glass matting with that tin of resin you find at Home depot or Lowes... (ie: D ab resin on, lay Fiber Glass Matt, then dab resin over thet...) Also- Thanks for the tip on the hot water! I'll have to devise a system of clamps and paint stirring sticks to keep them in place while then set. (And asking more girl friend for help!) **dolioshmolio** Thanks! I have two more days of vacation before going back to work... I'll get my visor in tomorrow From T-Visors.com- that';ll be an interesting install. I opted for the slim. The "delux" was too big and I *u<k3d the trimming to make it fit.

syllander said:

Got some good info on them. Skip the fiberglass and look into a smooth on resin kit (starter kit) and use with glass matt. Has to do with FG. Resin won't bond. It'll stick, but it will disbond easily. And hot water is all you need to shape them.

Smooth on resin is urethane based like the urethane gauntlets. Fiberglass resin is polystyrene based and molecularly speaking will not bond. Heat, humidity and twisting or dropping will make the fiberglass resin delam from the urethane gaunt due to that incompatibility. Urethane resin such as smooth on will not suffer the same fate, but works just like wetting fiberglass the traditional way.

Don't get me wrong, the FG resin will stick, but it doesn't take long for it to start coming apart. Ask me how I know....

Great info. I would have over looked the difference between them for sure. Thanks a bunch, man. You saved me some butt hurt down the road. I really appreciate it!
Now I know what to look for when it comes time to construct the Gaunts.

I painted and added some damage to the crimson trim.
I Also started some right cheek detail work.
This "Fern green" Can suck it. I just added some white to the original cheek/dome color to lighten it up. The next pictures will be final right cheek weathering and some left cheek weathering...

syllander said:

Smooth on resin is urethane based like the urethane gauntlets. Fiberglass resin is polystyrene based and molecularly speaking will not bond. Heat, humidity and twisting or dropping will make the fiberglass resin delam from the urethane gaunt due to that incompatibility. Urethane resin such as smooth on will not suffer the same fate, but works just like wetting fiberglass the traditional way.

Don't get me wrong, the FG resin will stick, but it doesn't take long for it to start coming apart. Ask me how I know....

firstly, thanks again for the compliments!
i Finished all that neurotic detail work to the cheeks and dome... gave it a layer of black weather-wash to kill some of the shine and blend it...
There's another layer of black weathering I'm going to do to blend in the larger paint damage.

Masking off the Kill Stripes isn't so bad when you have Netflix...
Raw KillStripes, very glossy, masking fluid hasn't been taken off yet...

As I started Dull Coating, patting myself on the back for a job well done... I realized I <o<k3d something up... The RF Ear has to be darker!!! Grrrr- NP- Masked, painted and sanded to weather (Splashing some of that black wash on...

Here are some grainy pictures of the helmet without the RF assembly (Masking tape is holding the cap on) That dent really shines in heavy and direct light.
I still have visor installation, and a bunch of drill press work to do on my servo shaft extension because I can't find a shaft extender that fits on Salamanderking's Servo. I had to order a pair off Amazon that need to be bored out. If anyone has a shaft extension laying around I would take it off your hands!